hermit
Americannoun
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a person who has withdrawn to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.
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any person living in seclusion; recluse.
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Zoology. an animal of solitary habits.
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Ornithology. any of numerous hummingbirds of the genera Glaucis and Phaethornis, having curved bills and dull-colored rather than iridescent plumage.
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a spiced molasses cookie often containing raisins or nuts.
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Obsolete. a beadsman.
noun
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one of the early Christian recluses
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any person living in solitude
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hermit
1175–1225; Middle English ermite, hermite, heremite < Old French < Late Latin erēmīta < Greek erēmītḗs living in a desert, equivalent to erḗm ( ia ) desert (derivative of erêmos desolate) + -ītēs -ite 1
Explanation
You hear about hermits more often than you meet one, and that’s because a hermit is someone who likes to be alone, far from people, sometimes because of their religious beliefs or maybe because they simply want some privacy. Hermits like living solo, alone in the woods, up in a mountain, or sometimes they live in a city without hardly ever leaving their apartment. The root of the word is the Greek erēmos, meaning “solitary.” A life of solitude isn’t for everyone, but a hermit chooses it for any number of reasons. For example, being able to honor their religious beliefs more fully or hating all of humanity are two possible motivations to become a hermit.
Vocabulary lists containing hermit
Twelfth Night
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"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d" by Walt Whitman
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Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Boy Kavalier forces Hermit to become his employee in exchange for remaining with his sister, and so he can work off the cost of an artificial lung Prodigy put inside him to save his life.
From Salon • Aug. 31, 2025
They’ve traveled from all over the East Coast and Midwest to attend Crab Con, also known as the International Annual Hermit Crab Convention.
From Slate • Aug. 19, 2025
Hermit crabs all over the world, which scavenge shells as armour for their bodies, are turning increasingly to plastic waste instead.
From BBC • Jan. 25, 2024
If you’d prefer to wake up on the island, stay at the Hermit Gulch campground in Avalon, where you can camp or rent cloth tent cabins.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2024
The Hermit, watching his pool, was able to tell them that Shasta was not killed or even seriously wounded, for he saw him get up and saw how affectionately he was greeted by King Lune.
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
